Are you talking about a profit sharing plan? Aren't these things standardized among all the employees? I'm not sure you'll have a lot of negotiating room there.

Let's pretend it's not standardized- the company doesn't have one, but will. Which leaves pretend me a lot of room to negotiate.

Make sure you don't confuse the concept of profit sharing with stock options or restricted stock bonuses.

I'm really only familiar with one profit sharing scheme - the one my father uses at the company he runs. It's basically a way to tie a person's performance to their P&L responsibilities - i.e. manager X gets Y% of the profits that s/he is responsible for. It is completely discretionary and his employees accept it on good-faith (as does he, he doesn't own the company but just runs it).

If they specifically said profit sharing, this is probably what they have in mind. I'd try to figure out if you can get a guarantee of some sort. But the biggest thing to pay attention to is how the profit sharing formula works - is it a % of the profits of the company as whole, or some measure based on the portion of the business in which you are directly involved? Make sure it is explained clearly and that you negotiate something that you feel you have control over. Employers offer these programs to give you an incentive to work hard and they work best when employees are given as much control over their compensation as possible.

A profit sharing program is not to be confused with ownership. A stock option plan or restricted stock plan wouldn't provide you any cash when award to you, but you'll own a piece of the company (provided you stay employed there long enough to vest). The pay-off will come when the company is sold or goes public. If this is what you're being offered, I'd recommend asking for acceleration under change-of-control, that way your stock will vest immediately upon the sale of the company. I'd also negotiate for the lowest possible exercise/stock price if they offer you options.

exercise/stock price

That should be "strike," not stock.

::looks for fantastic answer box for mullacc's answer::

Thanks, that helps a lot.

Yea, and we are specifically talking about profit sharing, not stock options.